absterse

English

Etymology

From Latin abstersus, perfect passive participle of abstergeō (“wipe off, wipe away”); formed from abs- + tergeō (“wipe”).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əbˈstɜː(ɹ)s/
  • (US) IPA(key): /æbˈstɝs/, /əbˈstɝs/
  • Hyphenation: ab‧sterse
  • Rhymes: -ɜːs

Verb

absterse (third-person singular simple present absterses, present participle abstersing, simple past and past participle abstersed)

  1. (transitive, now rare) To absterge; to cleanse; to purge away. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
    • Dr. Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors.
      “ Nor will we afiirm, that iron ingested, receiveth, in the stomach of the Ostrich, no alteration ; but if any such there be, we suspect this effect rather from some way of corrosion than any of digestion, not any liquid reduction or tendence to chilification by the power of natural heat; but rather some attrition from’ an acid and vitriolous humidity in the stomach, which may absterse and shave the scorious parts thereof.”

Derived terms

References
  1. “absterse” in Lesley Brown, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.

Latin

Participle

absterse

  1. vocative masculine singular of abstersus
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